Apparently, I'm turning the anniversary of David Foster Wallace's birthday into a Range annual event, but mostly this post is an excuse to link to The Awl's collection of "46 Things to Read and See for David Foster Wallace's 50th Birthday", which should give you plenty to do for a few days. Just pick something...maybe 2005's "The Host" from the Atlantic which might make you appreciate Jon Justice for a moment, believe or not.

Author J.A. Jance has added yet another suspenseful New York Times bestseller to the Ali Reynolds series. Her new book, "Left for Dead," went on sale Feb. 7 and has already received raving reviews. (293 pages, $25.99 hardcover)

"Engaging...Ali charms the locals into giving valuable if inadvertent clues." - Publishers Weekly

"A truly thrilling case with red herrings, characters coming out of the woodwork, back stories that will make you gasp, and a conclusion that you will not see coming!" - Suspense Magazine

Here is a brief summary of "Left for Dead" from Touchstone Books:

When Santa Cruz deputy Jose Reyes, one of Ali's classmates fromt he Arizona Police Academy, is gunned down during a seemingly routine traffic stop, he fights to cling to life. As the crime scene investigation unfolds, shocking evidence suggests ties to the seamy underworld of the drug trade and casts a sudden shadow of suspicion over Jose and his pregnant wife, Teresa, who realize that their battle has only just begun.

Author biography from Touchstone Books:

J.A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling author of the Ali Reynolds series, the J.P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, and four interrelated southwestern thrillers featuring the Walker family. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, Jance lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington, and Tucson, Arizona.

Local author and freelance writer John Clausen debuts his first novel, a witty mystery called Big Hungry. Released last fall, the book is published by Hukilau. (139 pages, $2.99 e-book on Amazon and Barnes and Noble).

Book summary from the author:

“A dead body…Gunshots…A bewildered ghost mentored by a cowboy angel… Big Hungry is the story of a small-town murder mystery as it unfolds through the eyes of the many colorful characters of rural Tulleyville, North Dakota. From the nosy news reporter to the town drunk, to the spooky loner who lives on the outskirts of town, each quirky Tulleyville resident’s perspective unravels another thread revealing their collective fate. Will the town be flooded to benefit a millionaire’s pet project? Who are the River Rats, and are they dangerous? Will the greasy politician get away with bribery, kidnapping, or worse? And, will the backwoods, one-man police investigation be able to reveal the shooter’s identity?”

Local author Richard C. Johnson examines religion, God and human consciousness in Religion: The Failed Narrative: Clashing Religious Doctrine and the Threat of Nuclear Terrorism. (55 pages, $11.95 on Amazon)

He writes, "I discuss religion and science in parallel as worldviews and grand narratives. I am seeking discussion about why we should continue to rely so heavily on religion for direction when it doesn't provide reliable answers to some of our most vexing social and environmental problems."

Book synopsis (by the author):

Adam Carley, an information scientist, published a proposed mechanism for consciousness in a l994 article appearing in Free Inquiry. The article, “What is Consciousness,” in effect summarizes work done to date by Dennett, Minsky and others — but extends this work by offering a workable model. Consciousness is presented as a sensation — baffling, yet integral to social interaction. Using the hologram (visual, empty image) as a metaphor, I extend this idea to a mechanism for God, proposing that the supernatural is but an artifact of consciousness. I suggest that the image of the self, as well as an elusive God, are aptly represented as holograms.

Local author Arthur Naiman has written about the events of Sept. 11 in his book, 9/11: The Simple Facts: Why the Official Story Can't Possibly Be True. Released this summer, the book is published by Soft Skull Press. (112 pages, $12)

Book summary from the publisher:

Books on 9/11 tend to get dismissed as “conspiracy theories” but that won’t work with this one, because it contains no theories at all about who did what. It simply focuses on flaws in the official version of events.

It begins by listing fourteen clearly observable facts about the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings that the official story can’t explain, then gives a simple explanation that accounts for all fourteen of them. It asks:

• Why has no other skyscraper ever collapsed from being hit by airplanes or from fires, even ones that raged for seventeen and eighteen hours?

• How could the buildings fall so symmetrically, and so fast?

• Why, on not a single one of the four planes, did anyone punch in the four-digit hijacking code?

• How could the BBC broadcast to a world audience, on live TV, the destruction of Building 7—the third WTC skyscraper, the one that wasn’t hit by a plane and that most people aren’t even aware of—twenty minutes before it happened? (You can see it standing there in the background.)

It’s questions like these—and there are hundreds of them—that have convinced more than 1500 architects and engineers, with 25,000 hours of professional experience, as well as senior governmental officials, intelligence and military officers, pilots, firefighters, scholars, 9/11 survivors and relatives, broadcasters, reporters, authors and tens of thousands of others, to petition for a new, independent investigation.

Local author Paula Frighetti recently published 2012: Transition and Transformation. (88 pages, $12.95)
For more information, click here.

Book summary:

A recent Internet search for 'December 21, 2012', produced over a hundred million hits. In addition to the sites on the Internet, there are thousands of books on it as well. It is clear that learning the story of 2012 is a daunting task. Obviously, the first ones to ask would be the Mayans. They were the ones who created the Long Count calendar that brought December 21, 2012 to the world’s attention. This book summarizes their message and provides information from astronomy, archeology, astrology, religions and ancient stories that support their message. It is also a handbook for those who have been able sense the changes that are occurring. 2012: Transition and Transformation, is a basic guide to the ancient stories and science that binds all life together and the prophecies that foretell the possibilities of the journey that is before us.

A notable release from last year: Death Clouds on Mt Baldy: Tucson's Lost Tragedy by Cathy Hufault. (290 pages, Arizona Mountain Publications, $19.95) For more information, click here.

Book summary:

On a lovely November day in 1958, six boy scouts set out to climb Mount Baldy in the Santa Rita Mountains. A freak snow storm caught them totally unprepared. Three stumbled back down the trail and the other three became the focus of the largest search and rescue operation in Arizona history—19 days—on foot, by helicopter and horseback.
Death Clouds on Mt Baldy is a haunting historical adventure drama which relays harrowing accounts of rescue, survival, bravery and tragic loss.

Haufault writes:

The book was written as a tribute to this diverse group of inner city kids who ran into trouble on a carefree adventure hike in our wilderness. It also honors the over 750 people who desperately searched for them. Many do not realize that this was the start of SARA, the Southern Arizona Rescue Association.

Amari Magdalena has released Beyond the Four Agreements: Mastering the Inner Shields of Transformation. (168 pages, $22.99 hardcover, $13.95 paperback.) For more information, visit here.

Book summary:

Arizona writer, Amari Magdalena has released a new self-awareness book on utilizing ancient wisdom to achieve inner-healing and outer happiness.

In a world where outer relationships fracture and fail regularly, Amari presents practical tools for healing the most important inner relationship of self. Beyond the Four Agreements builds a bridge between two Toltec Masteries-the Mastery of Awareness and the Mastery of Transformation. Expanding on The Four Agreements and ways in which unhealed parts of self sabotage the agreements, Amari takes the reader on a guided adventure through a series of activities designed to awaken qualities within that are often projected onto others as unrealistic relationship expectations. Wonderful life-long tools are provided to foster the health of each of four inner personas that govern happiness and contentment. These personas endow the original four agreements with life-changing transformational actions. Learning to develop complimentary vs. compensatory relationships is an outgrowth of the healing benefits of Beyond the Four Agreements.

I really like cookbooks. This passion for recipes in bound, tangible form is somewhat distressing to my wife, since I only end up cooking on some weekends and then I usually end up buying a bunch of extra food to honor the depth of my culinary genius, but yet, I have a giant stack of cookbooks. So, while I might not be an expert on cooking, I do know something about what makes for a good cookbook gift. If you're still out there shopping, here are three new releases that I'd wholeheartedly recommend, whether for an actual cook or just someone who wants to appear to be one.

Marie Miyashiro's The Empathy Factor—Your Competitive Advantage for Personal, Team and Business Success has recently been published by PuddleDancer Press. ($19.95, 256 pages, www.EmpathyFactorAtWork.com.)

Book summary:
The Empathy Factor builds on Marie’s organizational research and consulting experience of over 28 years, focused on organization development, strategic planning and communication training. The book shows how building a more compassionate, empathetic workplace is the path to greater productivity, and consequently, profits, and offers team leaders pragmatic and strategic implementation tools to bring the transformative power of empathy to organizations.

Author bio:
Marie Miyashiro is an internationally recognized business consultant, facilitator, writer, keynote speaker and Nonviolent Communication practitioner, with over 28 years of experience. Marie speaks on topics related to collaboration in organizations. Marie served as lead speaker for the 2011 Making Collaboration Real conference in San Francisco, California, and her keynote engagements have included the University of Arizona’s convocation for the College of Fine Arts. Marie has been selected as a keynote speaker for the 2012 Association of Partners for Public Lands convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. As president and founder of Tucson-based consulting firm, Elucity Network, Inc., Marie has developed and coordinated award-winning business outreach programs for public works and transportation projects with the Arizona Department of Transportation, City of Tucson Department of Transportation, Pima County Department of Transportation, Pima County Wastewater Management Department and the Town of Marana. Nationally and internationally, she has worked with Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, nonprofits, universities and government agencies throughout the U.S., as well as in Canada, Asia and India, and with clients from Japan to Indonesia.